ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604150040
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
A financing program new this summer will increase the availability of loans to start and expand businesses in Virginia, a spokesman for the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce said Friday.
Bud Oakey of the chamber said the program put forth by Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, survived Gov. George Allen's budget vetoes this week.
Under the Virginia Capital Access Program, taxpayer money will be used starting July 1 to encourage financial institutions to issue business loans they might not otherwise make.
"If there's a loan application that makes good sense but it falls outside parameters, this can be an internal tool to do this loan and justify it," said Douglas W. Murray Jr., a chamber financial analyst. "You're putting a degree of character-lending back into the equation."
There is a one-time allotment of $500,000 earmarked to stimulate lending, an amount Oakey said could translate into more than $10 million in loans, depending on how the program is implemented. The agency in charge will be the Center for Innovative Technology, in Herndon, an organization created by the state in 1984 to spread technology and help others create jobs.
Allen's veto pen spared two other spending measures important to Western Virginia businesses. One will furnish half the salary of a third business consultant at the Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center, an arm of the chamber, while creating a new center in Martinsville. The other will furnish a secretary for Joe Robinson, an international trade consultant from the state Department of Economic Development who is based in Roanoke and travels to 11 cities and 20 counties in Western Virginia to advise companies.
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